The U.N. Secretary General says the world’s nations must work cooperatively in the fight against COVID-19, “or else we will be defeated by the virus.”  
 
Antonio Guterres said in an interview Friday on the PBS News Hour he is “worried” that if the virus gets a foothold in Africa, millions of people will die.  “Africa is a continent with very little capacity to respond and I am extremely worried.”
 
The U.N. announced late Friday that 86 members of its staff have the coronavirus.  
 
The United States is now regarded as the epicenter of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China.  
 
Early Saturday, the U.S. had 104, 837 confirmed coronavirus cases, compared with 81,947 in China, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Italy, the epicenter of the virus in Europe, had 86,498 confirmed cases.  The global tally of confirmed cases is 601,478.A scathing article in the British medical journal Lancet says that the National Health Service was “wholly unprepared” for the coronavirus outbreak, and that it is hard to understand why.A paramedic walks amid ambulances outside London’s Excel Centre, while it is being prepared to become a hospital for the treatment of coronavirus patients, in London, Britain, March 28, 2020.Richard Horton, editor of Lancet, said NHS officials had written an article for Lancet in January saying the virus “could be about to become a global epidemic … for health protection within China and internationally … preparedness plans should be readied for deployment at short notice, including securing supply chains of pharmaceuticals, personal protective equipment, hospital supplies, and the necessary human resources to deal with the consequences of a global outbreak of this magnitude.”Britain has 14,751 virus cases, according to Johns Hopkins.
 
U.S. President Donald Trump is ready to have the National Guard and the Reserves join in the fight against COVID-19, according to a Defense Department statement Saturday.  
 
The people who are called up would be “persons in headquarters units and persons with heightened medical capabilities.”  
 
According to the statement, officials with the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services would talk with state officials before deploying the National Guard Reserve Component Services.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, Vice President Mike Pence, second from right, and Republican lawmakers applaud President Donald Trump during a signing ceremony of a $2.2 trillion stimulus measure, at the White House, in Washington, March 27, 2020.Trump signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus measure Friday to bolster the economy that is reeling in the aftermath of the coronavirus.
 
Also Friday, Trump said he used government powers under the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to manufacture ventilators to help COVID-19 patients as the United States became the first country in the world to surpass 100,000 coronavirus cases.
 
“GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives,” Trump said in a statement.
 
GM, however, released a statement Friday saying it had been working since last week with Ventec Life System to mass produce critical care ventilators for the coronavirus pandemic.
 
“Since Friday, March 20, Ventec and GM teams across manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, legal and others have been tirelessly and seamlessly working together to create and implement a plan for immediate, scaled production of critical care ventilators,” the statement said. 
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The Reverend Joseph Lowery, a key ally of Martin Luther King in the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, died late on Friday at the age of 98, his family said in a statement.“Our beloved, Rev. Dr. Joseph Echols Lowery, made his transition peacefully at home at 10 p.m., Friday, March 27, at the age of 98. He was surrounded by his daughters,” Lowery’s family said.Lowery was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama in 2009, a few months after he had given the benediction at Obama’s inauguration.Lowery co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King and other black ministers in 1957, to fight segregation across the U.S. South. He served for 20 years as its president before stepping down in 1998.He continued working for racial equality into his 90s.He spoke against South African apartheid, sought better conditions in U.S. jails, pushed for more economic opportunities for minorities, promoted AIDS education and railed against what he saw as government indifference toward the lower classes.Lowery was married to Evelyn Gibson Lowery, who shared his activism, for 63 years before her death in 2013. The Lowery Institute, now known as the Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights, was founded in his honor in 2001 and he was a member of its board.
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Kenya’s government is implementing drastic measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, although the country has only 31 confirmed cases of infection.A curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. was enforced Friday, and all international flights have been suspended.Economists have warned that any lockdowns must be accompanied by a plan for how the poor will have access to basic items, otherwise the eruption of violence is likely.”If the government does put in place 24-hour lockdown, or maybe several days lockdown, there is bound to be violence because you have to have a lockdown with a plan of how people will access food,” Kenyan economist James Shikwati said.Thousands of Kenyans have lost their jobs already due to social distancing.Kenya reported its first death from COVID-19 Thursday. 
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Here’s an animated look at how the coronavirus gets into lung cells — and how it might be stopped.
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U.S. President Donald Trump signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill Friday to bolster the economy while he also used government powers to compel General Motors to manufacture ventilators to help COVID-19 patients as the United States became the first country in the world to surpass 100,000 coronavirus cases.Trump said Friday he used his power under the Defense Production Act to require GM to “accept, perform and prioritize” federal government contracts to make ventilators.“GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives,” Trump said in a statement.He made the announcement shortly before signing into law the $2.2 trillion stimulus package after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the legislation earlier in the day to blunt the economic effects of the coronavirus that has battered the economy.The United States is now regarded as the epicenter of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China.By Friday evening, the U.S. had 101,657 confirmed coronavirus cases, compared with 81,897 in China, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Italy, the epicenter of the virus in Europe, had 86,498 confirmed cases. More than 1,500 Americans have died from COVID-19.During debate on the stimulus bill in the House Friday, lawmakers sat a distance apart from each other in the House chamber to comply with health safety advice as they debated before a voice vote, a quick way to approve legislation.The bill, which was previously approved by the Senate on a 96-0 vote, is the biggest fiscal relief package ever considered by Congress. It authorizes direct payments to U.S. citizens within three weeks of becoming law.New York City, the hardest-hit U.S. city and the country’s largest city, had 44,876 cases and 527 deaths as of Friday evening, according to Johns Hopkins. New York officials said the number of cases is growing by at least 3,000 a day.U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams warned Americans on Friday that they could expect cases to surge in other U.S. cities.“We also see hot spots like Detroit, like Chicago, like New Orleans, will have a worse week next week,” Adams said on CBS This Morning.Adams’ warning comes as U.S. states and cities continue to scramble in response to the outbreak. A survey published Friday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that 90 percent of mayors who responded said they don’t have adequate supplies of protective equipment and other essential items, such as face masks for health care workers and emergency responders.Earlier Friday, Trump said he had “a very good conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid heightened tensions between the two leaders that was triggered by the outbreak in China. But Trump tweeted, “China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the Virus. We are working closely together. Much respect!”The tweet was in sharp contrast to Trump’s previous disparaging remarks about how the Asian nation handled the outbreak and to his repeated description of the virus as the “Chinese virus.”In Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive Friday for COVID-19, Downing Street said in a statement.In a video on Twitter, Johnson said he has “a temperature and a persistent cough” and that the symptoms were “mild.” He also said he is “working from home” and is “self-isolating” and added it was “entirely the right thing to do.”The White House said Trump spoke by phone with Johnson Friday and “wished him a speedy recovery.”Other leaders across the globe have also tested positive for COVID-19, including political leaders in Italy, Spain, Australia and Iran.In their first-ever remote vote, EU Parliament members approved a $41 billion package of economic aid to members whose economies have also taken a beating because of the outbreak.Italy reported its largest one-day death toll Friday, announcing 919 deaths. Spain has also been particularly hard-hit, with more than 64,000 cases and more than 4,900 deaths.France announced Friday that it was extending its national lockdown until at least April 15.The coronavirus has claimed nearly 27,000 lives globally, according to Johns Hopkins, which also reported nearly 592,000 cases worldwide.The cruise ship company, Holland America, said Friday that four people have died and another 138 are sick on a ship currently near the Panama Canal but stuck in limbo during the coronavirus pandemic.The company said in a statement Friday that two people aboard the Zaandam ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, while the other sick passengers have complained of flulike symptoms. The company did not say what caused the deaths of the four passengers.China is temporarily closing its borders to all foreign visitors. Nearly all the new coronavirus cases in the past week in China have come from people arriving from overseas.The outbreak appears to have eased in China, and authorities don’t want a resurgence.South Africa and the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Medina and Mecca — the last are two of Islam’s holiest cities — are the latest to go under lockdown.The Associated Press reports U.N. ambassadors from eight countries under United States sanctions — China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Syria and Venezuela — are asking Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to press the U.S. to lift the sanctions so they can effectively fight the outbreak. The ambassadors accused the U.S. of politicizing the pandemic.
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Four people have died and another 138 are sick on a Holland America cruise ship currently near the Panama Canal but stuck in limbo during the coronavirus pandemic.Holland America Line said in a statement Friday that two people aboard the Zaandam ship have tested positive for the coronavirus, while the other sick passengers have complained of flu-like symptoms, which are similar to those caused by the virus. The company did not say what caused the deaths of the four passengers or how many passengers they have tested for the virus.Holland America said passengers who were not sick were being transferred to another vessel.Passengers aboard the Zaandam started reporting flu-like symptoms over the weekend, according to the company. They have been confined to their staterooms since Sunday, with crew members delivering meals to guests. Medical supplies and extra medical personnel were brought to the ship Thursday.The company said it was trying to get permission to transit through the Panama Canal to travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but it is not clear if the vessel will be allowed to dock in that city. The ship had already been denied a request to allow passengers to disembark in Chile on March 16.The cruise set sail from Buenos Aries, Argentina, on March 7, before Holland America Line suspended its global operations for 30 days amid the coronavirus pandemic.The last time passengers were allowed off the vessel was in Punta Arenas, Chile, on March 14. The ship was scheduled to end its voyage at San Antonio, Chile, on March 21 and has 1,243 guests and 586 crew on board.
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Many schools in America are closed for the rest of the school year because of the coronavirus pandemic, so schooling children is now in the hands of parents, many whom are in lockdown and forced to work from home. VOA’s Eunjung Cho met with an American working mother who is keeping a daily routine for herself and her children.
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